According to State of Connecticut v. Derek Roseboro, he was convicted of the crimes and sentenced in March 1992 to 130 years in prison. He testified on his own behalf in front of a three-judge panel, and was spared the death penalty.

Roseboro, now 61, also was convicted of first-degree burglary for stealing more than $400 after the murders.

Newspaper reports at the time said Mary Ferrara’s adopted daughter, Peggy Ferrara, 32, discovered the bodies late in the evening of Aug. 12, 1989. Mary Ferrara’s body was found in a hall, her son was found in a bathroom, and Nina was wrapped in a blanket on a bed in a first-floor bedroom.

Madison resident Caryl Ferrara Viola said she fervently hopes Valley residents never forget her three family members.

The soft-spoken Viola talked lovingly about her mother, Mary Ferrara, her brother, Joseph Ferrara, and her niece, Nina Ferrara, after Mass was said in their memory Saturday at St. Mary’s Church.

“With time, a lot of people forget,” Viola said. “It’s been 25 years. I don’t want people in this area to ever forget.”

She said her parents, Joseph and Mary Ferrara, were lifelong residents and immigrated here from Italy. Her father had died about a decade before the murders.